New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced Wednesday they are issuing a joint travel advisory requiring travelers from states with high coronavirus infection rates to quarantine for 14 days.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the move at a joint press conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D). The three governors are from states that were hit extremely hard by the virus and say they now want to guard against their progress being reversed by travelers from other states.
The advisory applies to people arriving from states with an infection rate above 10 cases per 100,000 people on a seven-day rolling average.
As of now, that means the advisory applies to travelers from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas, Cuomo said.
Cuomo indicated that police would not be patrolling the borders of the state, saying the move is not a “blockade,” but that people could be subject to judicial orders for a mandatory quarantine or fines of $2,000 for the first offense if they are found to be violating the quarantine.
He said people could be discovered for example by hotel clerks, other people in business meetings, or if they are stopped by police and have out of state plates.
Asked if the quarantine is only on the “honor system,” Cuomo pushed back, saying people could be caught if people report them. “You could argue that every law is the honor system until you get caught,” he said.
More broadly, Cuomo touted the progress that New York has made, now that the tables have turned and the state is doing much better than much of the rest of the country.
“It was never a choice between saving lives and reopening the economy,” he said. “It was always you have to do both or you do neither.”
“What New York is doing is counter to what you see across the nation,” he added. “They are going up and we are going down.”